Former BR officer charged

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 13, 2009 - Page: 1B

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A then-Baton Rouge police corporal who asked East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III for help in getting a Parish Prison inmate released was indicted Thursday on bribery and other charges for allegedly soliciting and accepting cash from the inmate.

An East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury charged 49-year-old Donald Bailey with one count each of bribery, corrupt influencing and malfeasance in office.

The state Attorney General’s Office — not the District Attorney’s Office — is prosecuting Bailey’s case because Moore is a key witness in the case, Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.

Caldwell said Bailey approached Moore directly about the inmate, and Moore immediately contacted the appropriate authorities.

“The DA himself had heavy participation in catching the bad guy in this case,’’ Caldwell said.

Bailey, who was arrested Sept. 28 by Louisiana State Police, resigned Oct. 7 from the Police Department in lieu of termination, police spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said.

Bailey’s attorney, Michael Walsh, declined comment because he was in St. Louis and had not seen the indictment.

Bailey — a 14-year veteran of the police force who coordinated the Targeted Violent Offender Program — will be arraigned Dec. 14 before state District Judge Chip Moore.

The indictment identified the inmate in the alleged bribery scheme as 30-year-old Gregory Lollis.

At the time of the alleged bribery, Lollis was in the custody of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office on a cocaine possession charge and a parole hold, State Police said after Bailey’s arrest.

State Police have said detectives arranged for the inmate to make a recorded telephone call to Bailey from Parish Prison. The inmate told Bailey he needed help getting out of jail.

Caldwell said Bailey agreed to aid Lollis and told him he would have the charges dismissed and the parole hold lifted in exchange for $12,000.

Bailey then contacted the District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Probation and Parole to request the dismissal of the charges and the lifting of the parole hold, State Police said.